History of the Sword - Late Bronze Age (1,200 BCE) Mycenaean Flange Hilt Swords

In general, the evolution of blade weapons in the Bronze Age is from the dagger or knife in the Early Bronze Age to the earliest narrow bladed "rapier" swords optimized for thrusting from the Middle Bronze Age to the typical broad-bladed slashing swords in the Late Bronze Age. During this time, one common advancement in sword making was the method of attaching the hilt to the blade. Early and Middle Bronze Age swords had their hilts attached to the blade by rivets, making them effective as thrusting weapons, but proving them ineffective as slashing weapons when the handle rivets tore through and separated from the blades. This situation was remedied during the Late Bronze age with the appearance of the "flange hilted" sword where the sword hilt and blade were cast together in a single piece, incorporating raised flanges into the edges of the hilt in order to accept grips of wood or bone. This effectively eliminated the possibility of the sword tearing itself apart when used as a slashing weapon, and greatly increased the effectiveness of the sword in general. This model represents two examples of Mycenaean Type G "flange hilted" swords, using both wood and bone as handle materials. The overall lengths of the swords are 26 3/4 inches. #bronze #bronze_age #flange_hilted #Greek #Greese #Mycanae #Mycanaean #sword #warrior #weapon